Learning how to overcome certain life struggles is a lot like learning how to swim. It may seem scary at first and you may feel like you have no clue how to begin. But whether you were taught by getting thrown in the deep end or you gradually stepped in the water at your own pace…once you learn, you don’t forget. Knowing how to navigate your own struggles through the world can be a powerful life lesson. However, to learn the lesson, we actually have to face our struggles, know them, feel them, own them. Then we can figure out how to work with them.

I have one of those restless minds. The kind that can keep revolving a thought (or a few) around in my head for hours, even days or weeks. Sometimes the swirling thoughts effect my body, causing tensions in my head, shoulders, stomach, chest or legs.

Fermenting foods is a lost knowledge…and that’s a shame, because it’s incredible! Wild fermentation is the process of capturing wild yeast and bacteria from the air around us to create a culture that enhances the nutrition of our food. This was common practice for earlier generations before pasteurization became the standard, due to the growing food industry and its need for products with a longer shelf life. Pasteurization is the process of heating food until all bacteria is killed; thereby leaving it lifeless. Our human bodies are very much alive, and guess what? We need live food to be healthy! We need a diversity of bacteria strains in our body to create and maintain our immune system. If we don’t have good bacteria in our body, then we don’t have anything to fight the bad bacteria with.

I used to suffer with stiff neck pain chronically. It wasn’t until I visited a massage therapist and received my first deep tissue massage that everything changed. I was regularly waking up with a “kink” in my neck and forced to go about my day unable to turn my head to either side. The reason this happens,

As we arrived at our first clinic location, I noticed about 40 inquisitive faces on the patients who were already waiting for us. After riding through hilly rural roads, we pulled up our dusty van and began to unload all of our mobile clinic supplies. That day, we set up in a school classroom. There were many curious looks from the group of tanned Guatemalans who on average are all at least a foot shorter than me. I caught myself staring back at them, dressed in their brightly colored and best traditional garments. I began to stumble out the few Spanish words I knew, although Spanish being their second language also it wasn’t easy for anyone. For many, this was their first time ever receiving medical care. As we treated 85 patients that day in the dry heat of a village near Quiche, I knew I was beginning something that would change my life.